


The cogs within

by lossit_bay



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossit_bay/pseuds/lossit_bay
Comments: 11
Kudos: 39





	The cogs within

A clock’s job is to keep time. Not to make time,- a clock that made time would be a different device entirely- but to keep it, to measure the fleeting moments and the moments that moved like syrup and all the moments in between. You may think it is the finely detailed cogs within the body of the clock that are essential for this purpose but they are not. It is the arrangement of the cogs which is key, for a clock that doesn’t keep time is not a clock at all. 

You may then think that each cog must then be precious, as they are all part of this arrangement, but again you would be misled as any good clockmaker can tell you there are many arrangements of cogs that can keep a perfect time. Each cog is in fact dangerous, as a single flaw could jam the mechanism and stop the timekeeping. Timekeeping may be stopped sometimes, for the clock to be rewound or repaired, but it must always be restarted or the clock is not a clock for a clock’s job is to keep time. Should a single cog be preventing the mechanism from turning an excellent clockmaker can rearrange the remaining cogs to keep time once more. This must be done quickly so that the fine teeth of the other cogs are not damaged by the pressure but it can be done. It is not the cogs that are essential but their arrangement. 

Of course, while a repaired clock may bear the same face and keep the same time, an attentive owner may notice that it does not sound quite the same under the ticking. This will not bother most people and with time the new whir of the cogs will sound right to anyone, just as the previous arrangement had. A clock’s job is to keep time, nothing more. How it manages this is not of concern to anybody but a clockmaker.

There are differences between all clocks. Some are small enough for a child’s wrist watch while some are large enough to be seen by a whole town. Some are made with gold and others with plastic. Some are old and cherished and some are new and abused but all clocks keep the same time, otherwise they would not be clocks. Theoretically, you could replace any clock with another but even a child could tell you that is a horrendous suggestion for a multitude of reasons. A clock’s only job may be to keep time but it is much more than a timekeeper. 

Clocks maintain society, keeping everyone working together to create something more powerful than could ever be possible alone, but clocks can also crumble a society. Rebellions are not born of spontaneity, they are crafted just as a clock is. There are many cogs involved and you may think each is precious, essential for the rebellion to keep time, but you would be wrong. Remove a single cog and a rebellion can reform in a different arrangement to keep pace just as it did before. Damage too many cogs and you would think the rebellion would stop, you would think society would continue as before, but cogs are dangerous. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, the cogs will find a new arrangement that a clockmaker would never set. I said before a clock must keep time. While this is true, I never specified which time. Sometimes society needs a change of pace.


End file.
